Vidocq - Herrscher der Unterwelt

Was passiert in Frankreich, dass die Hauptrollen von einer Ukrainerin und einer Schottin übernommen werden müssen? :-) Olga wird nicht wirklich berücksichtigt, weil sie bereits in etwa zwanzig französischen Filmen gespielt hat, aber es überrascht mich trotzdem. Vidocq ist ein Charakter, den die Filmemacher noch lange interessant finden werden, es wird immer jemand auftauchen, der nach einer neuen Interpretation mit einem neuen Gesicht greift. In diesem Fall geht es leider eher um eine Flut von Action, Gewalt und Rache und die Handlung ist irgendwohin verschwunden. Am meisten freute ich mich über die Besetzung von Fabrice Luchini in der Rolle des gefürchteten Innenministers Fouché. (03.04.2024)

France, Vincent Cassel and the best historical film of this year. The main character is the dreaded Vidocq, a famous thief with a great reputation who is forced to work with the police due to adverse conditions and decides to clean the streets of murderers, thieves and similar vermin. Great period atmosphere, a breathtaking Vincent, great narrative pace, awesome sets and plenty of suspense and of course a piece of history. Good stuff. 85%. (08.08.2019)

Jean-François Richet sometimes rushes a bit too much, and at other times he needlessly stalemates in an attempt to squeeze in some of those "sort of artsy shots", but Vincent Cassel and his crew are fine badasses, Paris is wonderfully nasty, and it has a fine Dumasian adventure story feel. If Vidocq comes back with a sequel, I'll be happy. (27.03.2020)

It's not as harsh and gloomy as the famous psychedelic Phantom of Paris from 2001, where the title song was composed by Apocalyptica and it always starts to play in my head whenever I remember it. It’s still harsh and gloomy enough for today’s audience. This is mainly due to Vincent Cassel, who’ll probably play these tough, disheveled characters until the day he dies. But I like this. For many people here it is probably too old school to give it good rating; otherwise I can’t explain why a period-set mystery like this would be rated under 70%. If you know something about Vidocq’s historical importance, the ending of the film cannot fail to bring you joy. (15.11.2019)

On the one hand, what I find disappointing is that the highly stimulating material of Vidocq’s life (furthermore, backed up by such a great cast, director and production design) is reduced to a mere dime-a-dozen adventure that lacks logic. On the other hand, we can be pleased that it is nevertheless a fine, uncompromising movie in which emotions are well portrayed. In fact, it inevitably seems like a successful adaptation of one of Xavier Dorison's albums. Whether that is a positive or a negative, however, is a completely different question. In my opinion, it is positive and not an insignificant one. (18.11.2019)